


Acrimony

by Marchling



Category: Suits (TV)
Genre: Friendship, Gen, Guilt, Hurt/Comfort, Punching Friends, Purposefully Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-09
Updated: 2013-04-09
Packaged: 2017-12-08 00:26:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,410
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/754829
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Marchling/pseuds/Marchling
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Harvey is angry about a client he didn’t want to take and Mike doesn’t know when to stop trying to help. He provokes Harvey into doing something he’s going to regret.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. A Failure to Read the Signs

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own Suits. If I did this foolish Rachel-or-Jenny question wouldn’t be an issue – the answer would be Harvey
> 
> Note: This was written for a prompt on the Suits Meme. Everyone should head over there and start prompting, and more importantly, filling!
> 
> Also, this takes place during the first season.

It wasn’t so much that Mike was _trying_ to piss Harvey off, really. It was just that Harvey was obviously angry after the meeting with the client and Mike, already barred from the ‘adult table’ for the entire case thus far, was sick of stepping around on egg shells trying not to upset Harvey. 

He kept waiting, the entire time from the point when Jessica had gently yet firmly forced Harvey to take the case. Harvey didn’t want to, but it wasn’t a pro-bono and it wasn’t one of Jessica’s ex-husbands (as far as Mike knew). He’d already discreetly asked if it was one of the cases that Harvey had done for Cameron, but he’d been sarcastically glared at in Harvey’s typical way, a way which said _‘No, you moron’_ so Mike was really out of options. 

The fact was that Mike could only really help if he knew what was going on. Sure, he was doing the best work he could trying to lighten the load on Harvey, but that didn’t seem like enough for the man who had essentially given him his life, a life that he loved. 

It had been a pretty innocuous question, too. Mike had been working late reading through the contracts for the merger they were handling for the case and Harvey had shown up at the office after his meeting in a bar with the client. Mike had dropped off the finally completed files and had seen that Harvey looked _off_. Maybe a little drunk and _definitely_ a little pissed. No one else was around, so maybe it would _finally_ be a good time to talk. So Mike had asked, “How did the meeting with the client go?” 

He’d asked that sort of question about a hundred times before, so he really was unprepared for the venom with which Harvey used to tell him to go home. 

“Okay, so not good, I’m guessing. Did we lose the client?” Mike asked. 

“Wouldn’t that be a fucking dream?” Harvey muttered under his breath. The profanity kind of surprised Mike, as Harvey usually didn’t stoop to such easy insults. He generally preferred his verbal evisceration to have more flair. 

Mike was understandably dumbstruck for a second. “So, um, I take it this is someone you already know?” 

Harvey glanced up at him from whatever he’d been half-reading half-glaring at on his desk. “Didn’t I tell you to go home? What are you waiting for?” 

“A discussion about the case? An answer?” Mike responded, getting a little annoyed. 

“Aww, does the puppy not feel important enough?” Harvey taunted, standing and pulling at his tie to take it off. With all of the skinny tie jibes Mike got, he’d been doing a little research into what was acceptable and that tie that Harvey was manhandling cost more than Mike’s bike had. If that wasn’t a sign to retreat, Mike didn’t know what was. 

He’d never been good at following obvious signs when they concerned his own safety.

“The puppy is sick of being treated like an idiot. You think I can’t see how twisted up this case has you?” Mike answered, “How about you tell me what’s going on so we can fix this and move on?” 

“Yeah, _no_.” Harvey said, “You have no idea what you’re talking about –“

“Because you won’t tell me!” Mike cut in, probably a little foolishly as interrupting was always a good way to annoy Harvey. 

Sure enough, he got leveled with a glare that actually made him step back. Harvey’s voice went quiet, “You have no idea what you’re talking about,” He repeated, “And you have no idea how much this isn’t your business.”

“So?” Mike shot back, “Half of the things in my life that you’ve jumped in on haven’t been your business. Hasn’t stopped you. And guess what Harvey? I can’t even be mad at you for it because you’ve always helped. Why not turn it around and see how it goes?” 

“No.” Harvey said again as he dropped his tie on a chair and went to pour himself another scotch from the sidebar. 

Mike watched him and curled up a lip in disgust, “Yeah, drink more. That’ll help.” 

“It will, thanks.” Harvey returned sarcastically. “You gone yet?” 

“Tell you what, I’ll go home and I’ll take the client’s name with me. I’ll see what a couple of hours on google can turn up, huh? Find where you guys intersect? It’s gotta happen at some point, right?” Mike said, his voice purposefully bright. 

Harvey was in his face in a second. “You do that and you don’t have to bother coming in tomorrow.” 

“Wow, that bad huh? Alexis Kellison, right? That could go either way, so I’ll have a lot of possibilities to work through.” Mike said, pushing Harvey away from him. “Let’s start easy? Opposing counsel that beat you?” 

Harvey didn’t react. 

“Old professor that failed you? Someone you worked for? Ex-girlfriend?” Mike listed off, watching as Harvey’s muscles tensed, “Ex-girlfriend?” He repeated. 

“Shut up, Mike.” Harvey snarled, taking another liberal sip from the scotch. 

“Ex-girlfriend that broke up with you?” Mike pushed in further, waiting for Harvey to finally give in and tell him. Harvey turned away and started to walk towards the window. Mike grabbed his arm and tugged, intent on making the older man face him, “Marri-“

He’d been about to ask if Alexis Kellison was married, but he didn’t get the chance. When Mike tugged Harvey around, the other man had done it easy enough, had whirled around on him, actually. 

He didn’t even see the fist coming. He did see the floor though, as it came flying up to meet him after he spun in place and started falling. Luckily, he didn’t get to see or feel _that_ impact. His vision flared out and all he knew was the explosion of pain brought on by his mentor’s fist.


	2. Bitter Regret

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm slowly working on migrating my stories here to AO3. This story is already written and I should have the final chapter up later this afternoon!

“Mike? Come on, Mike, snap out of it. Jesus, kid…” 

The black in Mike’s vision slowly cleared, leaving him a little confused. His eyes were a little wet as though he’d been crying, but he hadn’t been and he was pretty confident about that. 

He asked Harvey what had happened… well, he _thought_ he was asking Harvey what exactly had happened, but the noise that came out of his mouth was embarrassingly closer to a whimper with maybe a hint of “Huh?” 

He felt a shaking hand run through his hair, “Shh, stay still Mike. You’re okay.” Harvey said, like if he meant the words enough they would be true. 

His vision cleared a little more and, when he caught sight of the ceiling in Harvey’s office, what had actually happened came rushing back to him. He hadn’t been crying at all. They’d been fighting and Harvey had totally just delivered a right hook that made all those champion amateur boxing rumors seem like the definition of understatement. 

“You punched me.” Mike said, a little incredulously. 

“I should probably be glad you’re so surprised.” Harvey mumbled under his breath from above Mike as he shifted a cloth that he had pressed against Mike’s nose. It took him a second to realize that his head was propped up in Harvey’s lap. Harvey himself looked more freaked out than Mike had ever seen him, even including the duration of the case that had started the whole thing. 

“What’re you doing?” Mike said, slurring a little. Harvey’s eyes narrowed at him. 

“How many fingers am I holding up?” Harvey asked, holding his hand in front of Mike’s face. 

Mike tried to concentrate, but his head was still spinning a little. “Two? No, three. Three.” 

Harvey frowned. “What’s my name?” 

“Harvey, seriously?” Mike asked, voice snuffling a little. Harvey was still holding something to his nose and it was seriously beginning to hurt. “What are you doing to my nose? It hurts.” 

Harvey winced; a strange, guilty look crossed his face. “Trying to stop the bleeding.” 

“Huh?” 

“Your nose is bleeding. I don’t think it’s broken, though.” Harvey explained, a little monotone. He was obviously trying to pull himself together now that Mike was awake. That he needed to do it at all was strange. “I’m going to help you sit up, okay?” 

Harvey’s hands were gentle, excessively so, as he slowly pulled Mike up from his lap and into a sitting position. The room spun a little, but righted itself pretty quickly. Still, he couldn’t stop the dizzy moan that came out. 

“Okay?” Harvey asked, shifting around Mike to sit in front of him. “Mike? Are you okay?” 

“You hit me.” Mike repeated, trying not to let either kind of hurt reflect on his face. From the suddenly stricken look on Harvey’s face, he’d completely failed.

Harvey swallowed, pulling the cloth that Mike suddenly recognized as the ridiculously expensive and now ridiculously bloody tie away from his nose. “I think your nose is done bleeding.” 

“That’s a lot of blood,” Mike observed a little dumbly.

Harvey glanced away from him, obviously guilty. “How’s your head, Mike?” He asked, not commenting about his bloody tie the same way he hadn’t said anything about punching Mike, “I managed to grab you at the last second and slow you down, but you still landed pretty hard.”

Mike actually had to consider that a second. All his brain could come up with was, “You _punched_ me. I blacked out for a second, you punched me so hard.” 

Abruptly standing, Harvey turned away from Mike and grabbed some napkins from the wetbar. “I know. I’m sorry.” Harvey said, startling Mike. He hadn’t really been looking for an apology. “It will _never_ happen again.” Harvey finished, his voice strained and forceful all at the same time. 

“Um, okay.” Mike said, still a little startled. It wasn’t quite forgiveness, but Mike wasn’t sure who needed to forgive who in their situation so he didn’t know what else to say. Harvey didn’t say anything either as he knelt down next to him again, but his face said that he’d noticed the difference. 

Hands still gentle, Harvey held the back of Mike’s head with one hand and started carefully wiping his face with a wet napkin with the other. 

“Why not just use the napkins instead of your tie in the first place?” 

“You were out of it and your nose was… _streaming blood_ , I was concerned you’d choke on it if you were flat on your back. The only thing around I could reach from the floor was the tie.” Harvey explained, his voice tight. 

“I’ll pay you back… but it’ll probably take a while.” Mike offered. 

Harvey barked out a laugh that sounded off to Mike’s ears, which had finally stopped ringing. “God, kid… you’re not paying me back.”

“But that tie…” 

“Is a tie. I don’t give a damn about it.” Harvey said. “Now sit still.” He reached down for something in his lap and Mike’s head barely got to switch gears from _Since when do you not care about ties?_ to registering that it was a bunch of ice in a napkin before Harvey was pressing it to his nose. 

“Oww, god, Harvey! Take it off.” Mike said, trying to twist away from what was making his sore nose sting even worse. Unfortunately for him, Harvey’s hand was still holding him in place. 

Harvey frowned at his obvious pain, “Shh, Mike. You’ll hurt worse tomorrow if you don’t let me ice it now.” 

“Don’t care.” Mike stubbornly said, again trying to dodge the ice.

“Alexis Kellison isn’t my ex-girlfriend. He was my best friend and roommate in college that my ex cheated on me with, though.” Harvey said abruptly. 

Mike stopped moving. 

“Alex didn’t even have the balls to tell me what they were doing, either. I walked in on them going at it… _in my bed_.” Harvey said, his voice less bitter than Mike would have thought. “They claimed it was eternal love and they were sorry that I had been hurt by it. I told them to go fuck themselves.” 

Mike took that in. It wasn’t quite on par with setting your friend up for a drug bust, but it was still pretty low. He felt a pang of sympathy for Harvey, who claimed no friends and no feelings. “Are they still together?” He asked, still barely thinking about his nose, which had begun to numb out. 

Harvey snorted, “No. They broke up about three months after. I guess forbidden love isn’t as passionate when it’s suddenly allowed.” 

“Well, um, thanks for telling me?” Mike offered, a little unsure of what to say. Harvey rolled his eyes, but Mike could tell the action was forced, “Want me to find something to ruin the whole deal for him?” 

Harvey smiled and it was finally genuine. “No, finish it like Jessica wants. It doesn’t matter.” 

Mike didn’t frown because he had an awful instinct that it would hurt like hell, but it was a close thing, “It mattered a whole lot a minute ago.” 

Shifting his gaze from Mike’s nose to his eyes, Harvey stared at him. “It doesn’t now.” 

He wasn’t sure what to say to that, but it was probably as close to an _‘I care’_ as Mike was going to get. The same instinct telling him not to frown was telling him not to smile either, but he ignored it. 

Harvey looked away, his face twisting up in disgust, but his eyes saying something totally different. “I never want to hear you complain about being called a puppy again. I need to start taking pictures or something, so you’ll see what you are. Now stand up, I’m giving you a ride home.” 

Yet again, he said it forcefully but everything else was the total opposite. He helped Mike stand up and guided his hand to hold the ice himself. Mike did so without complaint, now that it was numbing out his nose. 

They were standing in the elevator before an important snag came into his mind. “Hey, what am I going to tell everyone… no way is there not going to be some sort of bruise tomorrow.” 

“There’s a bruise already.” Harvey informed him, eyes on the door to the elevator. “You can tell them whatever you want. Don’t worry about it.” 

“So I could say that I was saving some hot chick from a gang of bikers or something?” Mike asked, mostly joking. 

Harvey glanced at him, “You should probably pick something with even a slight chance of actually happening, Mike.”

He couldn’t even pretend to be offended. “Yeah, probably. Don’t worry, I’ll come up with something.” 

“You don’t have to.” Harvey said, the words leaving his mouth like they hurt. 

Mike glanced at him. “It’s got nothing to do with them. I’m sorry for pushing, you’re sorry for punching, it’s all good now.” The strange part was that he _didn’t_ feel strange for saying it. Maybe it was because seeing Harvey so torn up about having hit him made Mike feel less like punishing him, but he didn’t want to hold it over the other man’s head like he could have. 

“You’re not going to say that when you see your face tomorrow morning.” Harvey said, confident. 

Shrugging, Mike didn’t really have a lot to say to that. Or at least, not a lot that Harvey would appreciate. He could see that the other man felt awful for having hit him and that was more than enough reason for Mike to not want anyone to know. That would be dangerously close to trying to protect Harvey Specter though, and that was obviously even less welcome than he’d originally thought. “Badass is a good look on me.” 

“Because it’s so unexpected?” 

The joke was half-hearted, like it came out without much thought even, but Mike answered all the same, “Kind of. You’ll see, I’ll come up with something that makes me look good and could actually be believed.” Still, Harvey looked genuinely unsettled about it, so Mike nudged his arm with his own, “Hey, it’s between us. No one here will know.” 

The doors to the elevator opened and Mike stepped forward. He wasn’t sure, but he thought he heard Harvey say something like, “ _She_ will.”, but he was pretty sure that Jessica wasn’t that psychic and probably wouldn’t care. 

Wrong _she_ …


	3. Silk Ties and Stapes

Mike managed to avoid the mirror for most of the next morning. He didn’t glance in it once when he washed his face, carefully avoiding his nose, and he definitely didn’t after his shower. He even went as far as avoiding his own reflection in his stainless steel toaster. He didn’t even really need to see it. He could feel it, and god did it hurt. 

His nose had been throbbing when he woke up, the aspirin he’d taken the night before having long since worn off. He knew without even looking that he had at least one black eye, but if he knew anything about nose injuries (he’d been something of a child prodigy, so he certainly had experience with getting punched), then it was probably two. 

Any bit of good humor he’d had when he’d walked into his apartment the night before had dried up. After having tried and failed to come up with a story to make him sound good and keep Harvey out of it, he’d decided that not saying anything at all would be best. He’d get pestered, definitely by Rachel and probably also by Louis and the other associates, but if he let their imaginations fill in the gaps then maybe they’d do his work for him. Hopefully they landed on a group consensus that didn’t make him look like a little girl. 

The only thing that hadn’t changed from the night before was the fact that he didn’t blame Harvey. The other man had warned him to back off, had turned away from him to pull himself together and Mike knew damn well that he’d been drinking and angry. 

What had he gone and done? Oh yeah, provoked him and poked repeatedly where it was sore. It was out of the Harvey Specter playbook, the same one that made Mike’s stomach twist at the thought of using on other people and he’d used it on his own boss. It was the stupidest thing possible to do and it was wrong.

He’d apologize, even though he knew that it might make the situation worse. It would make him feel better, though, and he was pretty sure he deserved at least that considering the shape his face was in. 

Right before he got his bike down to head out, he decided to quit being a baby about it and check a mirror. If he was going to correctly downplay the situation while simultaneously being as mysterious as possible, he was going to have to see what he had to work with. 

A lot, as it turned out. 

His whole nose was swollen and black with other areas of sick looking colors, which was a gross look. He’d been right about the eyes too, both were black but the one that had borne the brunt of Harvey’s fist was worse. He might even be able to get some female sympathy at work, he looked so bad. At least the black eyes covered up the dark circles that he probably would have had from getting such an awful night’s sleep. It was a pretty sad silver lining. 

When he’d decided that he’d pushed off heading out as long as humanly possible, he headed downstairs. Once he got to the front door, he almost walked right into Harvey. 

“How many collisions are we going to have this week?” He quipped, trying for an easy grin that didn’t hurt his face. Immediately after having looked at himself in the mirror, he’d taken more painkillers and dropped the whole bottle in his messenger bag. 

Harvey didn’t respond. He stared at Mike’s face in something pretty close to revulsion. 

“Wow, that bad?” Mike asked, wincing. He shifted his weight around on his feet, suddenly uncomfortable with the scrutiny. He was screwed for the rest of the day if thirty seconds of staring made him nervous. “I knew I’d be getting some interesting looks, but I’m pretty sure Frankenstein was looked at with less horror and disgust than you’re giving me right now.” 

His words, or probably the slightly wobbly tone that he’d used because he couldn’t control it, made Harvey’s eyes snap onto his own. “It’s exactly how I thought it would look.” 

Mike knew better than to raise an eyebrow. “Then what’s wrong?” 

Harvey opened his mouth and the closed it a second later, letting out a harsh sigh that sounded angry. “Are you ready to head out?” 

“I’ve got my bike.” Mike said a little needlessly considering he had it in his hands. 

“Go put it back, I’ll give you a ride today.” Harvey said, nodding his head to Ray idling in the limo out front. Without another word to Mike he turned around and got into the car.

**-0-0-0-0-0-0-**

Forget the whole week that Harvey had been pissed at him for the pot… five minutes in the car now had shattered that previous record for most awkward. Neither one of them said anything as they drove through Mike’s neighborhood.

Every once and a while Harvey would glance at him and turn away, obviously unable to look for long. After the five, sort of torturous minutes Mike couldn’t take it any more. “I’m sorry.” 

Harvey turned to look at him, brow furrowed. He looked genuinely surprised. “For what?” 

“I shouldn’t have kept pushing you. I just wanted to help and I made everything worse.” Mike said, the words coming out in one long rush. He wasn’t anxious when Harvey didn’t respond right away, the other man had probably needed a few extra seconds to insert spaces where Mike had left them out. 

But Harvey kept staring, long after the time that Mike had allotted him to sort out the sentence. “Are you joking?” He said finally. 

“Um, no?” Mike answered, a little surprised. 

“Do you realize how much of a battered wife you sound like? ‘God honey, I really deserved to get the shit beaten out of me. I won’t take so long getting you your beer next time.’” Harvey said, giving his voice a little sing song quality that made Mike hope it wasn’t a direct metaphor. Otherwise he’d be pissed. Insult to injury and all that. 

Mike tried to shoot him a dark look, but he was pretty sure that the effect was lost. “I do not mean it like that. You shouldn’t have hit me just because I kept asking questions, but I shouldn’t have been doing it anyway. You snapped, I get that.”

“I did not just _snap_ ,” Harvey said, contempt for himself dripped from each word. For the first time Mike realized that Harvey hadn’t been revolted by his face, but at what Harvey himself had _done to_ his face. “I knew you were trying to help and I wanted you to shut up. You grabbed my arm and I didn’t even think about it. I’ve punched men twice your size the same way and they were actually my opponents.” 

It didn’t strike Mike as odd that he mentally went from apologizing to trying to make Harvey feel better about it. Whether the other man wanted to be or not, he was Mike’s friend. Maybe in the past he’d let his friends get away with too much, have too much of him, but this whole thing made Mike sure that Harvey wouldn’t do that. The other man wouldn’t _let_ himself do that. He’d had one weak moment where he’d done an awful thing to Mike and he could hardly handle it. The other night Harvey had said that it would never happen again and now Mike was sure of it. 

“Okay, so you just said it.” Mike argued, “You didn’t mean to. You weren’t thinking about it, not really.” 

“That doesn’t make it okay.” Harvey said bitterly, turning away from Mike to stare out the convenient window. 

Mike shrugged, glad there was at least one gesture he was still able to do. “No, it doesn’t, but you apologized. I know you’re sorry. I’m sorry too and I forgive you for punching me. You say it won’t happen again and I believe you. It’s all good now, Harvey.” 

“I cannot believe you’re trying to make me feel better.” Harvey muttered. 

“Is it working?” Mike asked. 

Harvey glanced at him. “And there we go, overeager puppy again.” He drawled, and his voice sounded better. 

Mike settled back in his seat, sure that it was going to work out.

**-0-0-0-0-0-0-**

Six hours later and he was still sure of it. Just as predicted, everyone wanted to know what had happened, but he’d pushed them off with just the right amount of ‘aw shucks’ for the ladies and ‘dude, you don’t even know’ for the guys.

By the time he’d come back from lunch, there were some rumors floating around about what had happened. Some of it did make him sound pretty sissy, but a few of them made him sound pretty badass. He was hoping that Donna would take pity on his soul and do her freaky office-magic to get _those_ rumors to come out on top. 

Not that he’d gone near _her_ in the last five and a half hours long enough to ask. 

When they’d gotten to the building, he and Harvey had walked to the other man’s office and with each step closer to Donna’s desk Harvey had gotten quieter and quieter. Not that anyone else would have noticed, because Mike was pretty sure only had had. 

Donna had looked up from her desk and gaped at Mike’s face. In any other set of circumstances he’d of been kind of proud for having given The Great Donna the sensation of surprise for the first time in what had to be years, but she looked concerned enough that he felt bad about it instead. 

“It’s really not a big deal.” Mike said quickly. 

Donna stood up from her desk and stared at him, “It really is.” She disagreed. “What happened?” 

As he started talking, he was aware of her attention shifting, “I don’t really want…” He started and trailed off when her eyes slid passed him and onto Harvey. 

She watch him nonchalantly stride passed her desk with nothing more than his usual, “Good morning, Donna.”

It was probably cowardly to turn tail and retreat without another word to either of them, but he was pretty sure no man on the universe could blame him, Harvey least of all. Harvey, Mike supposed, would probably have the best shot out of anyone at talking her down and Mike was going to leave him to it. 

He could practically feel her eyes on him for the rest of the day, even when he discreetly checked to see if she was around and _she wasn’t_. 

It had gotten ridiculously late before he heard anything about Donna at all. He was in the break room, getting his thirtieth cup of coffee and Rachel cornered him.

“Harvey wants to see you.” She said. 

Mike turned around, surprised, “I talked to him like a half an hour ago. I’m supposed to be proofing the Kellison contract. Even he can’t think I’m done yet.” 

“Well, I don’t know. Donna told me to send you to him.” Rachel said, “But if you want to stay here and tell me all about your night last night…”

Mike held his hands up in surrender. “I better get to Harvey.” 

“You’ll tell me eventually.” She called as he walked out of the room. 

“No way.” He muttered under his breath, glad to be out of the room. He was pretty sure some sort of betting pool had been started about the whole thing, as per the Pearson Hardman norm. 

When he got in view of Donna’s desk, he stopped dead. Harvey was there, like Rachel said he would be, but he was having some sort of intense conversation with Donna – he didn’t look like he was waiting for Mike at all. There was a new, massive bouquet of flowers on Donna’s desk and Mike knew they were from Harvey. Why _Donna_ got flowers when it had been _his_ face to meet Harvey’s fist was kind of beyond him though. 

Harvey was talking earnestly and Donna just sat primly at her desk, typing on her computer and not even looking at her boss. Mike scanned the hall, glad that most people had left, and crept forward. 

He couldn’t quite hear what they were saying, but Harvey was definitely not getting anywhere with his assistant, but the key phrases filtered through and made him blush a little awkwardly. 

There was the predictable, “We talked about it, I apologized and he’s going to be okay.” and “It will never happen again.” 

To the slightly odd, “Well of course I had been drinking, do you honestly think… that was one time and… seriously, Donna?” Harvey pausing in places and responding to things Donna wasn’t even saying was strange, but probably not too surprising. 

The worst, though, was Harvey’s quiet, “You know I’m sorry for hitting our puppy.” That Mike had to strain to hear. It made him blush for a number of different reasons that he didn’t care to examine too closely. He had a strange sense that he wasn’t meant to hear any of it, but then that he _was_. 

Donna still wasn’t saying a word, even though she said a lot. Harvey was probably getting even more than Mike. 

Finally, Mike could hear Donna say something. 

“You apologized?” Donna confirmed, cutting Harvey off. It seemed to be the first time she’d spoken in the conversation, definitely the first time Mike had seen. 

Harvey nodded, a little reluctantly. 

“I don’t even need to check if he accepted it or not, do I?” She asked rhetorically. “Then this is all I’ll do.” 

Mike wasn’t sure what to make of that, especially when Donna reached for something that he couldn’t see. Lightning quick, quicker than he’d previously thought her capable, Donna stood, grabbed the expensive silk tie that Harvey was wearing, pulled it right out from his vest and used the industrial stapler in her other hand to staple it to the wooden counter around her desk. 

With a sweet smile, Donna wished Harvey a great night, “Good night, Harvey. I’ll see you tomorrow.” As if nothing had just happened. 

Harvey stood there, not gaping like Mike was, just smiling like he couldn’t muster up any anger over the destruction of yet another tie. “Goodnight, Donna.” 

Mike closed the distance between his semi-hiding spot and Donna’s desk, mouth open. “Where did she even get one of those construction site staplers?” 

“I don’t know.” Harvey answered, watching Donna walk down the hall towards the elevator. 

“That doesn’t concern you a little?” Mike asked, still a little dumbstruck, he glanced at the staple, deeply imbedded in the wood. There was no way they were prying that thing out or saving Harvey’s tie. The best Harvey could do was undo it and hope the cleaning crew got it up before anyone else saw. 

The ding from the elevator doors opening caught Mike’s attention. He looked up and managed to be in time to see Donna wink at both of them, give a jaunty little wave, salute them with the stapler and then the doors closed.

**-0-0-0-0-0-0-**

A week later, when Mike’s nose had mostly gone back down to its original size and the bruises were gone, he got a package. He hadn’t bought anything, so he was more than a little surprised when he found a pair of black boxing gloves and a note inside.

_Puppy,_

_I meant what I said, you’re not going to get smashed in the face again if I have anything to do with it and of course I do. If you had any idea about ducking to dodge blows or protecting your soft features, you wouldn’t have ended up quite so pathetic looking. Not that your complete ineptitude excuses me using my expertise on you, but it’s an important skill._

_Donna programmed the address in your phone, meet me there Saturday at noon. Try to remember to bring your gloves and your masculinity._

_Don’t be late,  
Harvey_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for any and all kudos/bookmarks/comments!


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